So, last week I've told about that I might get to be an exchange student to USA or Canada. This is still true and I have the list and it gives 5 options in Canada and over 100 in USA, at least two options per state excluding Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Montana and Ohio which don't offer any (btw, do you have any explanation as to why? Just curious.). Two are from Ivy League, but what I read about them only makes me less willing to try (as in "I don't feel posh enough for Warsaw, let alone Ivy League"). I'll spend some time researching which offers best physics and mathematics options. If you have some suggestions that are fairly 'big names', feel free to shoot. It's likely that it's on the list. I'll have to do some extra English exam, apparently B2 is not enough. On one hand, annoying. On the other hand, I get it and I myself felt like my skill is lacking. Not to mention that getting a student visa takes at least three months… rd95's idea of extreme camping trip under "manifest destiny" begins to sound almost reasonable by comparison with the amount of crap involved with visas ;). In other news, I have done all extracurricular work for this summer. Some of my own results might even get published! Now I'm looking at options to visit my brother in Sweden in about a week, which is pretty cool. It's weird that you can miss someone so much despite talking on Skype on almost daily basis. Plan for now states a road trip and, among other, visiting our aunt who lives near Oslo in Norway. If possible, anyone interested in making Nordic + Polish meeting?
I live in NC near Duke. If you end up there, I'll buy you a pint.
If your Montana option is UM in Missoula, thenewgreen might suggest that you give it some consideration. It's not a big city, and in this case that is all advantage. It's beautiful out there, and the town has plenty of character.
Hm, maybe I wrote it in a way that wasn't particularly clear. The states that I've had mentioned (Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Montana and Ohio) don't present any offers. Other states give at least two options each. Thanks anyway though. Sorry for confusion :).
DE LA WARE DE LA WARE I AM HERE IN DE LA WARE Because there are only 2-3 universities in Delaware, total. (2-3 because I know for sure 2 are actually technically universities, but I'm not sure about the 3rd.) And of those - let's be generous and say 3 - there is really only 1 that is well-regarded. That one does offer quite a few study abroad and exchange programs, so I don't know why it isn't on your list, but I'm guessing it's just something about specific countries or programs in your case. The U certainly engages international students on the reg. __ As for Alaska, kids your age are literally leaving the state so fast that the state's picking up tuition bills to try and get young people to stay there. __ As for Hawaii, also small. Also abhorrently expensive. Probably can't afford to bring in that huge of a population of students in general, let alone foreign ex as well as just regular ol' Americans. __ Ohio? Genuinely no clue why on that one. __ Montana? At least for a while had a population density of like 3 people per square mile. Might be a factor. Not exactly a happening spot. Also, at least was one of the leading suicide states. You wouldn't want to go there even if they did offer a program. (This portion of my explanations driven entirely by memory and not research. Accuracy may be below par.)
Thanks for explanation! Maybe we could even meet if I would end up on the East Coast :D. That sounds horrible, especially after seeing UPenn and Princeton on my list. It's expensive compared to Ivy League? Holy fuckballs on a money-burning sandwich!Also abhorrently expensive
Chicago has a large Polish community, so you might look at opportunities there. And, of course, California is a total melting pot where you will meet people from everywhere in the world, and has the benefit of seriously brainiac schools (maths and engineering) like Stanford, USC, CalPoly, UC Berkeley, etc. Might be good schools there.
Stanford is listed along similar stipulations that AU. Berkeley is free of any additional 'footnotes with footnotes'. Truth be told I've had an eye for it as I recall their history as "major CalTech competitor since Feynman", which is awesome in my book ;). Side-note… I think I'll literally go to some sort of lawyer so that he/she could translate this legal gibberish for me. It's frigging mind-boggling that I can read this (and the only edition I could get from library is in English) fairly comfortably, but need a dictionary, Google and a stumped father next to me to read a legal note in my native language and fail consistently. :/
I really hope you can make it here, even if we never get to meet (but wouldn't it be cool if we did?). For fear if sounding like a broken record, America really is a wonderful country full of amazing people. You'd have a blast here and you'd probably get a lot out of it, especially if you wind up at a good school.
Don't worry, I'm the same about Poland (I took literal break from writing, to not spam) ;). As of good school, I think that most of the ones I have on my list are really good. As of fitting in, that's a completely different thing. To say that I don't particularly excel in social interactions is among the understatements of the century. List of people I get along with and could call friends for one reason or another boils down to my room mate, two guys that I roleplay with (fun fact: I might turn out to be a GM of a guy who might end up being a TA for one of my classes. Talk about conflict of interest :D) and a post-doc from Netherlands with whom I have one of those amazing dynamics (both in research and in 2 vs 2 table tennis :P) that can be best described as "a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts". Most of the people along with I study don't seem to enjoy my company. This is going to sound terrible of me, but the main hope it'll change comes from the fact that I have started mathematics along 120 people and to second year qualified only 34 of them, and ratio on physics looks even grimmer. Although it's a bit shit that the main reason some people might talk to me is a rapid choice density reduction. Sorry if it seems like I'm a downer here, not really what I want to convey here. It's, like most things that I write, as honest and precise set of statements of facts that I can make. I'm actually quite chill about it ;).
Pfft. You'll probably be fine here. Like I said, if you do anything socially awkward, you can just play the foreign card. "Oh? You eat tacos with your hands? That's weird. In Poland we use a spoon and an apple peeler." If you're a math major, you'll probably find some nerdy friends that you'll get along fine with. Any trouble there, go to a local gaming shop and see if they have an list of gamers looking for a group. That's a good way to make friends too. Just be cool and you'll probably be fine. :)
I'm biased obviously but is American University one of your available options? Would highly recommend (again, HUGE bias)
It's where I got my BA from :P That said, the faculty I know were very invested in their students' success and I really learned a lot and benefited from the school's location. That said, I was an international relations major, not a math/science major. One of my very good friends got her degree in physics and I knew a few math majors I don't know how good the departments are. I know it's not a huge science school because politics/international relations are their big sells so the programs might suffer for that. There's a pretty strict divide between the math/sciences and softer sciences; they don't even require IR majors to take statistics. So it might not be the best fit for your purposes.